ATLANTA

In a few days I will have a stopover in Atlanta, on my way to Panama. It has already happened to me, with the difference that in 2007 it was a night stopover both ways, which allowed me to see downtown Atlanta twice. I was not really impressed by the city. If I compare with all other Olympic Games cities I know, it is by far the one I felt less enthusiasm with.
The airport is very big and, I suspect, was the first world-wide to have an internal underground train system to link the various terminals.
A little bit out of the centre is the atraction which caught my eye and my mind: the houses and monuments linked with Martin Luther King, in Auburn Street, which was, long before the Civil Rights Movements developed, a district for the wealthier segment of the black community. MLK was born, leaved and preached there. It is now classified as a National Historic Site and includes the family's home, the Ebenezer Baptist Church, a visitor center and gardens, a Community Center, the King Center with an exihbition and, more rewarding for my feelings, the MLK' Tomb in a beutiful open public space.
If passing through Atlanta this is the feature you ought not to miss!

FROM USA TO CANADA BY FERRY

Yes, it's true, it's possible. And I did it!

My flight from Europe arrived at Portland, Oregon, where I rented a car for a week-long tour of the two most north-western USA States, Oregon and Washington, plus British Columbia, in Canada.

After having visited the Olympic National Park (another World Heritage site, to be posted later), in the northern part of Washington, I took a ferry from Port Angeles (which means the Spanish have been there and named the place accordingly) to Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. The transfer takes about one and a half hours, through the Stait of Juan de Fuca (once again the Spanish have been there, no doubt).

On the ferry you have plenty of time for snacks and drinks, but if you are a landscapes lover like me you will for sure keep yourself outdoors (may be not if you do it in December...) to see the USA islands to the interior of the Strait and - especially - to enjoy the magnificent views of the Olympic National Park, which become superb once you are in the middle if the crossing. The attached picture was taken from the shore in the Victoria side, wiht the Olympic still in the distance.

For the return back to USA I took three days later the more classic land highway from Vancouver to Seattle.